Ship&#39;s course-recorder.



No. 823,976 PATENTED JUNE 19, 1906.

E. O. TIBBETTS. SHIPS COURSE RECORDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 17. 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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PATENTED JUNE 19, 1906.

F.O. TIBBETTS. SHIPS COURSE RECORDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY17. 1905' 3 $HEETSSHEET 2.

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PATENTED JUNE 19, 1906.

F. O. TIBBETTS.

SHIPS COURSE RECORDER.

I APPLIGATION FILED MAY 17. 1905 '3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SHI PS COURSE-RECORDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 19, 1908.

Application filed May 17, 1905. Serial No. 260,862.

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED O. TIBBETTS, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Pontiac, county of Livingston, State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Ships Course-Recorders,of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to improvements in ships course-recorders ofthe kind in which the position of the compass-needle with reference tothe axis of the ship is recorded upon a traveling sheet of papercontinuously and with relation to the time during which the ship ismaintained in its different courses. The record thus obtained forms atrue ships log which displays every movement of the ship during acertain elapsed time.

In the accompanying drawings, which Fig. 3 is a plan view of the compassand of the parts with which it immediately cooper ates. Fig. 4 is a planview of the top of the device. Fig. 5 is a perspective View of thetraveling armature with the marker mounted thereon, and Fig. 6 is adiagram of the record sheet or chart with a nine -hours record markedthereon.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts all throughout thedrawings.

The main body or-casing of the device is in the form of a cylinder 1,the lower end of which is closed by a disk 2 and a semiglobular bowl 3.The disk 2 is secured to the lower flange 5 of the casing 1 by screws orbolts, (not shown,) and the bowl 3 is secured to the lower end of thecasing by bolts and nuts 4, passing through the flanges 5 6 andthrough-the disk 2. I

The casing 1 is supported upon standards 7 7 through the intermediary ofthe gimbaljoint rings 8. I have shown four such rings, the outer onebeing journaled directly on the standards 7 7, and the succeeding innerones are each journaled on the next preceding outer ring, and finallythe casing 1 is journaled on the innermost ring, all in a manner wellunderstood. This mounting renders the casing 1 independent of thepitching and rolling of the ship and enables it to maintain a verticalposition. If necessary, some weight may be placed in the bottom of thebowl 3 to insure the position of the centerof gravity of the casing andits contents to be a considerable distance below the plane of thegimbal-joint rings.

l/Vithin the casing 1 and in the line of the diameter of the disk 2there are mounted upon thelatter three standards 9 10 11, the standard 9being mounted on the center of the disk 2 and the standards 10 and 11 atequal dis tances from the central standard. These three standardssupport the box 12, containing a train of gears. From the upper face ofthe box 12 the standards are continued, as indicated at 9 10 11, andthey project a short distance above the upper edge of the casing 1 andare there braced 'by the hinged bar 12 and the latch 13. The bar 12 hasthree longitudinal slots, which when the bar is brought down upon theedge of the casing pass over the standards 9 10 11. The latch is pivotedto the bar 12 and has three lateral notches, so that when the latch isthrown over the bar 12 these notches embrace the standards 9 10 11, andin this manner the upper standards are securely braced. A thumb-screw14, passing loosely through the free ends of the bar 12 and latch 13 andthrough a nut in the bracket 15, secures these parts together and to thecasing.

Within the casing 1 is the chart or recordcylinder 16, which surroundsthe box 12 and has on two diametrically opposite sides secured to itsinner face the two rack-bars 17 17, which rack-bars engage the pinions18 18 of the train of gears within the box 12, and which train of gearsis so adjusted andprovided with the common retarding devices that therecord-cylinder 16, acting upon it as a driving-weight, will dropthrough its whole length in a certain predetermined number of hours.Each rack-bar is longitudinally grooved on its two sides, and there areguidebrackets 19, one on each side of each of the pinions 18, secured tothe box 12 and taking with their free edges into the grooves formed inthe rackbars. In this manner the recordcylinder is guided during itsdescent from the position indicated in Fig. 1 until it has reached itslowest position on or near the disk 2. Two

circular guide-tracks 20 21, one above the other, are arranged tosurround the recordcylinder and are mounted upon brackets 22, which arefast to themnerwall of the casing 1 and mounted on these tracks is amagnetic body 23, provided with grooved rollers 24, which engage thetracks, so that this magnetic body, like a little carriage, can freelyroll all around the two tracks, with its inner face 25 toward therecord-cylinder 16, and on this face 25 is mounted a fountain-pen 26 orany other marking device with its markingpoint projecting toward therecord-cylinder 16 and in light contact with the surface of arecord-sheet or chart 27, which is wrapped around the record-cylinderand is there temporarily held in the manner usually practiced withchronographs or other like recording instruments.

To the inner surface of the casing 1, surrounding the boX 12, is secureda ring 28, which serves as a support for'an annular se ries ofelectromagnets 29, of which a few only are shown in the drawings andwhich may be horseshoe-magnets, as shown, with their yokes secured tothe ring 28 and with their poles in operative proximity to the outerface of the carriage 23 in any one of its positions. With thisconstruction, supposing that the carriage 23 faces the poles of any oneof the electromagnets and supposing that this electromagnet bedeenergized and then the next succeeding one be energized, the carriageacting as an armature to the electromagnets will at once be drawn alongthe tracks 20 21 to face the electromagnet which has now been energized,and in this manner by successively denergizing and energizing successiveelectromagnets the carriage can be made to rotate step by step allaround the tracks, and the fountain-pen or other marker will thus traceupon the record-sheet a circular line, provided that the record-cylinderis stationary. If, however, the record-cylinder descends by gravity, asit will always do, the marker will draw various lines upon therecord-sheet, according to the various positions which the carriageassumes when the electromagnets are variously energized, in a mannerwhich will hereinafter more fully appear.

In the bowl 3 is fixed a platform 30, upon which is mounted thecompass-box 31, with its compass-needle 32 mounted in the usual manner.This compass-needle may be a single bar, as indicated in Fig. 3, or itmay consist, as is frequently the case, of a number of parallel barsjoined to the under side of a compass-card 33, and the points of thecompass may be marked inside the boX in the usual manner. In order toobserve this compass and to adjust it in coincidence with thesteering-compass of the ship, an opening may be cut in the bowl, andthis opening may be closed either by a door or by a pane of glass. Suchopening is indicated in dotted lines.

Upon the platform 30 are also mounted standards 34 and 35, the formersupporting a commutator-ring 36 and the latter a continuous metallicring 37, both concentric with the compass-box, as shown. Thecommutatorring is divided into as many conducting-segments 36 as thereare equally-spaced electromagnets arranged in the casing 1. Theseconducting-segments are separated from each other by narrownon-conducting segments 36 in the usual manner of constructingcommutators. Upon the compass-needle are carried two pins 38, to whichis fixed a copper strip 39, which extends diametrically over thecompass-box and is provided at one end tact-brush 41, bearing upon thecontinuous conducting-ring 37.

Within the casing 1 at any point below the series of electromagnets isarranged a metal ring 42, mounted upon brackets 43. The electricalconnections are made as follows: From one pole of a battery 44 thecircuit eX tends by the wire 45 through the casing 1 and to the ring 42.From this ring a separate conductor 46 leads to each of theelectromagnets, and the other terminals of the windings of theseelectromagnets are carried by wires 47 through protecting-tubes 48 andthrough the disk 2 each to one of the segments of the commutator. Thenthe circuit continues from a segment of the commutator by the brush 40,copper strip 39, contact-brush 41, ring 37, and conductor 49, back tothe battery. It will be seen from this that as the compass-needle turns,so as to cause thebrush 40 to bear upon different conducting-segments ofthe commutator, a different one of the electromagnets will be placed inthe circuit of the battery, and consequently the carriage 23, with itsmarker 26, will be moved on the tracks 20 21 to a correspondingly different position, and the line marked on the chart will be different foreach different position of' the compass. When during the movement of thecompass-needle the brush 4O happens to bridge over the non-conductingsegment between two conducting-segments, there will be two adjacentelectromagnets energized simultaneously, and the carriage will take aposition midway between two consecutive magnets, so that the markings onthe chart corresponding to a number of consecutive different positionsof the compass-needle while still angular will not be as abruptlyangular as they would be if one electromagnet were cut out of circuitbefore the neXt succeeding one is put in the circuit.

By the operation of this device the course taken by the ship on whichit-is carried is accuratelydelineated upon the chart and can be readilyread and interpreted. The chart may take the form illustrated in Fig. 6,on which the vertical lines mark the different with a contact-brush 40,bearing upon the j commutator, and at the other end with a 0011-.

points of the compass and subdivisions thereof, while the horizontallines mark off time intervals of fifteen minutes each. Such a chartbeing wound on and temporarily fastened to the cylinder 16, the latterwill gradually drop down past the marker, and if the course of the shipshould remain unaltered during the whole time occupied by the descent ofthe cylinder the record on the chart would be a simple vertical line;but if the course of the ship is altered at any time during the descentof the cylinder the line traced upon the chart will be angular ordevious, according to the changes of direction of the ship. A record ofthe latter kind is indicated in Fig. 6 by a heavy line. The number ofelectromagnets used will depend upon the number of points of the compassof which the chart is to be an accurate record, and there need only behalf as many electromagnets as there are points of the compass to betaken notice of. Thus, for instance, if thirty-two points of the compassare to be recorded there need only be sixteen electromagnets, eachelectromagnet corresponding in that case to the first, third, fifth,seventh, &c., point of the compass, while the conjoint actions of twoadjacent electromagnets when the commutator-brush bridges two successiveconducting-segments of the commutator correspond to the second, thefourth, the sixth, 860., points of the compass.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that the series ofelectromagnets controlled by the commutator, which in turn is controlledby the compassneedle, in combination with the rolling carriage whichcarries the marker, constitutes, in effect, an elec tric motor of whichthe rolling carriage is the neutral field-magnet and of which theannular series of electromagnets is the stationary armature, for it willbe clear that if the compass-needle be rotated by hand or otherwise thecarriage will rotate on its tracks around the record-cylinder with thesame speed as the needle rotates and in the same direction.

In the construction shown the electromagnets need not be energizedstrongly to actuate the rolling carriage. A single cell of battery isquite sufiicient, and the magnets being at a considerable distance abovethe compass-needle do not react perceptibly to disturb that needle; butif in some cases a stronger current should be required, which mightcause the electroma nets to disturb the compass-needle, such isturbancescan be prevented by interposing between the magnets and the needle amagnetic shield of any kind. Thus, for instance, the disk 2 mi ht bemade of iron.

f am not limited to the exact details of construction herein shown,since these may be variously modified without departing from theprinciple of my invention. Thus,

for instance, the mounting of the compassneedle is shown in the drawingsin a rather conventional manner, and in practice it will be mounted inany well-known or improved manner, and proper compensation will be madefor variations of declination and for dip and for the effect upon theneedle of the current which passes through the copper strip 39. Thiseffect may be entirely avoided by mounting the brushes 40 41 near oneend of the needle, so that the current passing between the two has adirection practical y at right angles to the magnetic axis of the same.

What I claim is 1. A ships course-recorder,comprising a compass, anelectric motor, means control ed by the compass for shifting the polarline of the motor in accordance with the variations of the course of theship, and a chronographic recorder the marker of which is carried by themovable part of the motor, substantially as described.

2. A ships course-recorder, comprising an electric motor, achronographic recorder the marker of which is carried by the movablepart of the motor, and a compass the needle of which carries the brushbearing upon the commutator of the electric motor, substantially asdescribed.

3. A ships course-recorder, comprising a chronographic recordingcylinder having axial movement by its own weight, a marker movablecircumferentially with reference to the cylinder, and a compass theneedle of which controls the movement of the marker, substantially asdescribed.

4. A ships course-recorder comprising a movable chart-carrier, amagnetic body carrying a marking implement adapted to move over saidchart, a series of electroma nets in operative relation to said magneticody, a compass-needle, and means controlled by the same for energizingsaid magnets in the order of the varying indications of saidcompass-needle, substantially as described.

5. A ships course-recorder comprising a vertical chronographic cylinderaxially movable by its own weight, a marking implement adapted torevolve around the cylinder, a compass-needle and means controlled bythe same for moving the marking implement in accordance with the varyingindications of said needle, substantially as described.

6. A ships course-recorder comprising a cylindrical axially-movablechart, a marking implement adapted to move circumferentially around thechart, a compass-needle and means for moving the marking implement inaccordance with the variations of the indications of the needle,substantially as described.

7. A ships course-recorder comprising a compass, an electic motor and asource of current for the same, the commutator of the motor having anumber of segments equal to half the number of the points of thecompass, In testimony whereof I have signed my a commutator-brushcarried by the compassname to this specification in the presence of IOneedle for shifting the polar line of the motor two subseribingwitnesses.

in accordance With the Varyin indications of the needle, and achronograp ic recorder, FRED TIBBETTS' the marker of Which is carried bythe mov- Witnesses:

able part of the motor, substantially as de- J. A. CARoTHERs,

scribed. FRED. A. LUCAS.

